Joseph Devine

Joseph Devine (b. August 7 1937, Kirkintilloch) is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell in Scotland.

He was educated at St. Ninian's Primary School, Kirkintilloch, St. Mary's College, and St. Peter's College, Cardross. He was ordained priest on 29 June 1960 at the Pontifical Scots College in Rome. He received his Ph.D. in 1964 from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.

He was private secretary to the Archbishop of Glasgow from 1964-65. He was assistant priest at St. Robert Bellarmine, Pollok, Glasgow (1965-67) and at St. Joseph's, Helensburgh (1967-72). He was on staff at St. Peter's College, Cardross (1967-74).

He served on the staff of the Episcopal Vicar for the Lay Apostolate from 1974-83. He was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop on 5 May 1977, aged 39. He was ordained Bishop by Thomas Joseph Winning, Archbishop of Glasgow in St. Francis' Church, Gorbals, Glasgow on 31 May 1977. He was translated to the Diocese of Motherwell on 13 May 1983, aged 45.

Public views on homosexuality

In March 2008, as part of a public lecture on Sectarianism and Secularism, Devine drew controversy when he spoke about a perceived "gay lobby" attending Holocaust memorials "to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution." He idenitified this as part of a "giant conspiracy". Devine explained, "Like Mel Gibson, who said, 'I'm going to pick a fight', so am I...The homosexual lobby has been extremely effective in aligning itself with minority groups. It is ever present at the service each year for the Holocaust memorial, as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution"."

Devine went on to criticise the decision to honour Sir Ian McKellen for his work for equality, pointing out that Oscar Wilde was jailed for homosexual offences. He also took the opportunity to give advice to parents of gay children. "This must be a nightmare moment for any parent. I would try to handle it with a degree of compassion. But I would not tolerate that kind of behaviour. I would not condemn but I would not tolerate it"."

Critics of Bishop Devine cite that between 5,000 and 15,000 gay men were held in concentration camps by the Nazis as members of an "anti-social group." Historians estimate that 60% of them died while incarcerated.

In 2007, Bishop Devine stated that he would close the Roman Catholic adoption agencies rather than help same-sex couples to adopt children, and earlier in the year suggested that homosexual men and women would not be fit to teach in classrooms.

External links

* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdevine.html Catholic Hierarchy]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7294193.stm Bishop criticises gay community]